The Irish standard., 1887-01-01

SATURDAY, JANUA
mind of man should be given; this wa.
the purpose of the Roman power. Let
usssee, again, my brethren, what il
meant to unite all these peoples in one
form of idolatry. Each nation, fallen
away from God, and having forgotten
His holy law, by fears of the human
race. began to recognize various forms
of divinities in all the things that were
around about them. Along the banks
of The Nile man worshipped the air,
the sun, the moon, the stars; they wor-
shipped animals and creeping things.
In the city of Rome a Roman dies, and
they represent their gods-the lands
and the felds-by great rock, and
this was the first image Of Jupiter, the
god of gods. Also, they raised on the
affairs the very passions of men: there
wasSnot an act of man during his whole
life which could not be consecrated to
svme form of heather divinity. The
temples in Athens and in Rome,
throughout Greece, with all it's civiliza-
tion, were raised to the representatives
of mans passions. They had a god
representing theft; a god representing
impurity; a god representing every
form 5P evil and crime to which man
in the fultillment of the satisfaction of
his passions could bow down and offer
up his services. The theatres repre-
sented to the people every foul form of
iniquity, and they pretended to put be-
fore the world in a state Of civilization
what was done in the temples. Each
man had his own household god. The
Emperor had his agents in the gods
that ruled above him, and it was a
crime against his country and against
the community for any man not to bow
down to the agents of the Emperor.
This idolatry pervaded the whole sys-
tenn of the people then living. Every
form, or token, or sign that was in the
heavens above or in the earth beneath,
or in the waters under the eartl., would
have it's form Of divinity. They wor-
shipped all these and made it part of
tileir duty towards their country, to-
wards their Emperor, towards their
family, to uphold these various forms
of divinities. When the theatres rep
resented to us the people coming into
the temples in order that they might
worship their god, they represented to
us the foulest crimes-crimes that men
usually hide in the darkest walks of
life, were brought before the people.
Imagine then, my brethren, what must
be the sad state of the minds of the
people of old; now low must they have
stopped when gods were the very repre-
sentatiyes Of crime, and when it be-
came the part of mans life to yield to
it, so that their wise men. their philoso-
piers, their rulers, their great men In
battle, those who had built temples
were all guilty Of the same evil;
and yet, my brethren, there was unity
in all this, and this unity was the pre-
existence of the one being in all the
various gods and goddesses; and a man
was doubtful when he wished to ask
for any gift whether he would address
himself to one god or to another.
This then, my brethren, was their state,
but there was Che unity IN all the
various forms, and this unity was the
worship of him who exists in all the
various false forms OF worship that
ever were in the world. To him ST..
Paul alludes when he speaks to the
people of Athens and stands before
them to announce the God who came
into the world and was crucifed; and
he says to the high men Of Athens: II
5ehold you III all things most supersti-
tious," And these were superstitious
men in the particular manner Of Offer
ing themselves to demons. And st.
Paul again speaks about it, that the
battle of she Christian world was not
against the Prince of Darkness in the
upper air. The ancient historians tell
us that the pagans having passed away
from the knowledge of the true God,
began to worship things that we're not
made by God. They began to worship
their own imagination, their own pas
sions: and then again they allowed ex-
terror forms where the devil came, as
is we'll known from the ancient writer's
to take possession of them. Jesus
Christ had come for the destruction of
this power; to destroy the power of the
devil existing in them; for frequently
in the gospel it is mentioned that he
exercised his authority and drove out
the demon from amongst men. q Here
then was the state Of the then civilized
world.
Suspected Murder.
On Dec. great excitement was
caused in Belfast by two policemen
seizing a coffin, which contained the
body Of a man named James Chambers.